Mo Williams and Zydrunas Ilgauskas each expressed support for Mike Brown in light of his firing as head coach of the Cavaliers.

"Do I think he deserved it? No," Williams said. "My question is: Who's out there that's better? He's not a bad coach. To fire him, that's making a big statement. After him, you have to get a Hall of Fame coach.

"I thought we prematurely acted on our emotions, as an organization. I think he did a good job. If anything, bring in a veteran assistant. I think we just could have gotten better instead of blowing it all up. Now we're starting over.

"I'm hurt, because I like him a lot. He'll be missed. We know how the business of basketball goes. He knows the nature of the business, also. His presence will be missed.''

"I have nothing but good things to say about him,'' Ilgauskas told The Plain Dealer. "I enjoyed playing for him. I think coach Brown is a very good coach.

"Obviously, we didn't achieve what we set out to achieve, which is to win a championship. But if you're going to lay all the blame on coach Brown and think that's going to solve everything, you've got another thing coming.

"I think we're all at fault -- the players, everybody. You have to, at some point, accept some of the responsibility. We all have to do that. A coach only can take you so far. At some point you have to do it yourself and we didn't do it. I think coach Brown will be fine. He'll be coaching again, and I'm very sure he'll have success."